The monograph reports on research from primary sources about Queensland's Itinerant Teacher Service from 1901 to 1930. Chapter One traces its history and shows that the Service was inaugurated in 1901 with 1 teacher visiting 103 homesteads having 319 children, reached its peak in 1921 with 18 teachers visiting 1,889 children, and declined until…

Broad assumptions about the impact of the Internet have created a "cult of hype" where the latest technological advancement is seen as the next best thing, and educators have been swept up in the promise of an educational utopia. The hype tells us that the world is joined by the infrastructure of this new technology and that…

Charles Sturt University (Riverina, Australia) has initiated the Certificate in Distance Teaching course for rural teachers working in a distance education setting to extend their understandings about rural and distance education topics. Two semester-long subjects constitute the course: pedagogy of distance teaching and organization of distance…

Ag-Ed is an agricultural education project aimed at upper primary students, held in conjunction with the Toowoomba Show (similar to a county fair) in Queensland, Australia. The program achieves its purpose of helping children understand the impact and relevance that agriculture has on their everyday lives through two components, an Ag-Ed day and a…

Establishes the need for social work course offerings in rural Victoria, Australia, to improve access to education and social services. In 1989 Phillip Institute of Technology offered its Bachelor of Social Work degree and Graduate Diploma in Community Development in the Central Victorian city of Bendigo. (KS)

Discusses four issues in rural education in remote areas of Australia: (1) the education of girls; (2) the education of aborigines; (3) education for lifelong learning; and (4) the need to compile current research on rural education in Australia and plan further research accordingly. (KS)

The experiences of two schoolmasters in the small Western Port Bay fishing community of Hastings (Australia) in the last century are presented to provide insights to present-day teachers about the nature of living and teaching in a rural community. The second schoolmaster did a much better job than the first in involving parents in school…

Profiles and contact information for 14 candidate programs for the 1999 Australian Rural Education Award. Programs feature tree planting, transportation to boarding school, community development, business awareness, early childhood services, GIS technology, community-based curriculum development, reading resources, environmental service learning,…

A study compared the performance of rural and urban Western Australian students on the college-entrance mathematics examination following introduction of graphics calculators. Although urban students scored higher than rural students in the 3 years studied, the gap remained relatively consistent, indicating that rural students were not further…

Rural teaching is a phenomenon often characterised by transitions: transitions from urban or regional universities to rural communities, between rural teaching posts and others, and from classroom teaching to leadership responsibilities. In the last century many Australian teachers have begun their careers, that is, they have undertaken the…

A look at Australia's educational history gives insight into a proposal for a domestic communications satellite for use as an educational tool. The country's earliest and most successful distance education programs used itinerant teachers and "tent schools." In 1922, a national correspondence education program was adopted. Correspondence…

The recommendations made regarding technical and further education (TAFE) courses and isolated rural Australian women were based on information from a network of people involved in or interested in educating isolated rural women (187 responses); isolated rural women themselves (12 group interviews); and a literature search. The recommendations…

This booklet presents the proceedings of a workshop on teacher training and support for teachers working in remote rural areas. Participants at the workshop were drawn from a range of tertiary training institutions, government departments, parent groups, and other organizations. Many presentations focussed on Northern Territory case studies,…

Interviews, questionnaires, school visits, and examination of project films and documents supplied information for an interim evaluation of the effectiveness of the Roctapus (Really Outstanding Color Television About Practically Unlimited Subjects) program. A closed-circuit television series following a magazine format, Roctapus is distributed to…

Describes past and present economic and social conditions of rural Victoria (Australia). Discusses disadvantage and advantage in rural areas and the need for lifelong learning. Analyzes the policy development of the Country Education Project (CEP) and obstacles to the implementation of the CEP. Outlines challenges and issues for the organization.…